Protecting Victims of Crimes

Including Intimate Partner Violence and Workplace Crimes

For more than twenty years, the National Immigration Project has played a leading role in expanding legal rights for noncitizens under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and other related legislation, providing legal support to advocates and attorneys around the U.S. who are working with undocumented victims of abuse and other crimes. NIPNLG works to develop policies and practices within the federal government that support the rights of undocumented crime victims.

Immigrant victims fear that reporting violent crime and labor violations to law enforcement and working with the criminal justice system will expose them to deportation.

Most recently, NIPNLG identified a need for coordinated strategies and advocacies on behalf of immigrant victims of workplace crimes. Such crimes may include sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct in the workplace; as well as labor-related and economic crimes perpetrated by employers.

A noncitizen victim of a crime faces unique barriers to justice. Immigrant victims fear that reporting violent crime and labor violations to law enforcement and working with the criminal justice system will expose them to deportation. Similarly, these victims fear that access to traditional victim support systems may result in permanent banishment from the U.S. and separation from their children and families. Fortunately, noncitizen survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, workplace crimes, trafficking, and other crimes may attain legal status without having to rely on the support or testimony of their abusers.